A plane carrying alarmed passengers from Edinburgh was met by fire crews at Heathrow airport last night after a “shrieking” sound was heard onboard as it came into land.
One traveller on board Flight BA1465 described how there was an “extreme, high-pitched" noise from the plane before it aborted landing at the London airport.
The pilot then called cabin crew into the cockpit, leaving passengers with an anxious wait to find out what was happening.
James Kavanagh, 51, from Teddington, said: “People were looking at each other on the plane when the pilot said to the chief steward ‘can you come to the cockpit?’
“All of the stewards ran from the back of the plane and pulled the curtains and there was a hubbub behind the curtain. We had no idea what was wrong.”
Mr Kavanagh said it was up to 15 minutes before passengers were told what was happening, as the plane aborted its approach to Heathrow and headed north.
After circling for a short while, when the plane did land it was met by a small fleet of fire engines, Mr Kavanagh said, and passengers were led by staff to the main terminal at around 10.40pm.
A British Airways spokesman said: "Our flight was met by the airport services as a precaution after flight crew noticed a minor technical fault. The aircraft landed safely and on time."
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